This week, the operating rate of brass billet producers remained on the lower side of medium, and it is expected to decline further next week. [SMM Brass Billet Market Weekly Review]

       According to SMM data, the operating rate of brass billet enterprises recorded 49% this week, down 0.51 percentage points WoW, with the industry still operating at a medium-to-low level and no significant improvement in production activity.Inventory showed a divergent pattern of "tight raw materials and stable finished products." The days of raw material inventories at SMM sample enterprises further declined to 3.77 days, remaining at a relatively low level, highlighting the increasingly tight supply of raw materials. The days of finished product inventories stabilized at 5.61 days. Affected by high copper prices and cost pressure, enterprises generally showed low willingness to stockpile finished products, preferring to control inventory scale to mitigate price fluctuation risks.

       Looking ahead to next week, multiple factors will continue to constrain the brass billet industry, making it difficult to break away from a flat operating trend: On the demand side, the market has not fully emerged from the traditional consumption off-season, and high temperatures persist in some regions. Most enterprises reported weakening end-user orders, with slow demand recovery and limited boost to production. On the supply and expectation side, the policy adjustment direction for recycled copper raw materials remains unclear, leading to strong wait-and-see sentiment among enterprises. They are reluctant to take on excessive orders to avoid overcapacity risks, nor are they willing to blindly increase inventory to cope with cost fluctuations. In summary,SMM expects the operating rate of brass billet enterprises to drop another 0.33 percentage points to 48.67% next week, with the industry maintaining a flat operating state overall.